


Aarne-Thompson 510A

by Sir_Thopas



Category: Journey into Mystery, Marvel 616
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Female Loki (Marvel), Fix-It, Gender Roles, Genderfluid, Genderswap, Kid Loki (Marvel), Metafiction, Multi, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-04 18:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14598918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Thopas/pseuds/Sir_Thopas
Summary: Loki realizes that if he wants to defeat his older self then he needs to change not himself but the story. If he stays a myth, he's guaranteed to die, but a fairy tale plays by different rules and it rewards clever little boys who outwit the witch.





	1. Prologue

The line that runs between myth and fairy tale is a murky one. Traditionally, a myth is rooted in religion and is little more than an attempt to explain the bizarre world that surrounds mortals through the use of godlike beings. Strip it down, and you'll find that a myth is a comfort for the weak and the dying. A fairy tale is a story of the supernatural and the struggle between good and evil. A fairy tale is a warning for the foolish and the young. 

Loki is weak and dying. Loki is young and foolish. He is need of both. 

The myth of the "Dying God" is prevalent across many cultures. Death and Resurrection, Winter and Spring. The Dying God represents both. Persephone is kidnapped and dragged into Hades, from which she can only emerge from for half of the year. Osiris is torn into fourteen pieces and scattered across Egypt. But Loki is of the opinion that he is unfit for the role, and not simply because he prefers to remain alive as long as possible, but because his character does not fit the narrative: Loki is no god at all. Oh, people may call him the God of Mischief or the God of Lies, but it is only a name. A god requires worship, and people do not worship such creatures as himself. He is a Trickster. A Trickster does not play the part of the Dying God, the Trickster is the one who kills him. Coyote closes the door. Loki fashions an arrow from mistletoe. 

Loki's knees feel rubbery and he finds himself half-way to the ground, his thin arms around his childish, knobby knees. He breathes through his nose and thinks, _and Loki tells the Teller of the Fear Crown_. 

He won't take up the part. Loki is Loki and Loki has forgotten that Loki is Loki, he thinks only he is Loki. And Loki is a trickster. A trickster is a villain in a myth, but a hero in a fairy tale and if Loki cannot change his nature, then he will change the story. From now on, this story is no longer a myth. It is a fairy tale. 

_Once upon a time..._

_Once upon a time there was a young boy who was captured by an evil wizard. The wizard set before the boy an impossible task and as punishment for failure threatened to kill him and take over his body. The boy is clever, however, and goes to the witch for help._

The idea comes to Loki quite suddenly. He must destroy the Fear Crown, and the only way to do this is to destroy himself. But, does he really need to destroy _all_ of himself? Or just a piece? The small piece that holds all of his fears? After all, Loki knows now that he cannot trust Loki. Who is to say that self-sacrifice is even a requirement for destroying the Fear Crown? Well, okay, _Loki_ is the one who says it but as Loki has just established Loki cannot be trusted. 

What is Loki afraid of? Loki is afraid of becoming of evil, of becoming... _Loki_. Loki wants to change, but Loki cannot change, even with a stolen body. He is a product of myth. Even if he could change, what would stop him from changing back? It happens all the time, there is even a word for it: retcon. Fine, Loki will play the game. Loki will give Loki exactly what he wants. He will give up this small and weak body, but it won't be the same body as Loki remembers it. 

_Once upon a time..._

_Once upon a time there was a little mermaid who fell in love with a human prince. The mermaid went to the witch and asked for help. The witch warned her that if she became human she would be doomed to a mortal life, but the mermaid did not care. She traded her voice for human legs and a human soul._

Hela helped Loki once before. She is the reason that Loki was reborn instead of dying as he should have. If she can make a man immortal, then it should be within her power to make one mortal. Loki would laugh if he still could. A mortal body. What damage could Loki do with such a weak and helpless body? No magic, no strength, no youth. A human child-- a child who will _remain_ human. Thor can try all he wants, but there is no separating Loki and Serrure now. They are one and the same. Serrure's body and Loki's mind. Loki is not sure if his plan will work, but he thinks it might. Already he feels more at ease than he has ever been; his fears lifted. _Just try it, Loki, see if you can carry on with your evil schemes in a body like this! You won't even be able to talk your way into mischief, for I've traded our silvertongue for this gift! And even if you do manage it somehow, how long can you keep it up? Twenty years? Ten? This body will age and it will die in a blink of an eye._

Even if the Fear Crown remains intact, even if Loki destroys him, at least little Loki will have one last spiteful send-off. There is another layer to this trick. First is the trade: his voice for a human body. Next comes the stipulation: if he does not find true love among the humans then both soul and body are forfeit. He dies for real this time. Hela was baffled when Loki insisted on this; what can he say? He's a traditionalist and he's pirated enough Disney movies to know how this is supposed to go. Of course, he's given more time than just three days to accomplish this. Midgardian marriage laws have changed since the time those fairy tales were written. A few updates here and there won't hurt anyone. Loki has until the age of twenty-one to find his true love. He's sure he'll be able to accomplish it. He's adorable. Evil, older Loki though... he might have a bit of a problem on his hands. Loki grins wickedly upon confronting himself for the last time. 

And that is the last thing Loki remembers. He wakes up to the taste of blood and feathers. He feels no more evil than he had just a few moments ago. His older self is gone, as is the Fear Crown. He stands up on unsteady legs, his sense of balance gone, and that is when he notices that something is very, very wrong. 

He is a girl. With girl parts. Loki is – was – a shapeshifter, so the concept in and of itself is not so difficult to comprehend, but that it should happen without his intent and in a human body with no magic to speak of is truly bizarre. 

An echo of his older self carries on the wind, the laughter growing smaller and weaker as it dies. "If this is the game you want to play, then you must abide by the rules. The fairy tale is an Aarne-Thompson type 510A: The Persecuted Heroine. Or, in the words of your internet scribes, the character you have chosen to play is the 'Princess Classic', a character who is 'Always Female'."


	2. Aarne-Thompson 327

**The Children with the Witch**

At first, Thor could find nothing to say. He stared at the little girl who sat waiting on his bed. After that last frightening conversation, Loki had disappeared. For days Thor searched and could not find him. He had returned to Asgardia simply to report back to the All-Mother and rest for a few hours when he found the girl hiding in his room. 

She gave him a small, encouraging smile. 

"Did you do this because I would not promise to kill you?" The question rushes out of Thor in a single breath. 

The smile disappears from Loki's face. Her fingers dance in the air, signing _No! No! I did this so that even if I do go bad, I won't be able to do any real harm! You do not have to fear for me any longer!_

Thor can read her signs well enough, but as the silence stretches with only the rustling of Loki's tunic to break it, he feels himself losing to the anger that is growing tangled with the despair that has settled in his heart. He bangs his fist against the wall, stilling her small, human hands. "Do you have any idea what you have done?! You have killed yourself!" 

He could almost see the specter of death that clung to his sister, the way it did all who were mortal. Thor leaned back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor, his head buried in one hand that he braced against his knee. He needed to think. He had to fix this. This was the work of magic, and magic could be undone. 

He heard Loki slip from the bed and the soft tread of her footsteps. She stopped beside him, hovering, unsure. Thor reached out with his other arm, wrapping it around her knees to draw her close. She dropped a hand on top of his head. Thor could feel her frail bones beneath his heavy hand. He couldn't help but think of the time he had almost killed him, his fist wrapped around his throat. Loki had survived that encounter because of what he was, but as a human... Thor looked up at her. "I do not suppose you will tell me how you managed to accomplish this?" 

Loki shook her head. 

"I will restore you, Loki." 

She shook her head again. 

"What do you expect me to do then?" 

She shrugged. _Nothing. I will grow up, I will marry a human boy, I will die. I will be good._

"I cannot accept that." 

_Do not play the role of the Knight. It is not for you. Besides, knights always get their eyes plucked out by witches or turned into animals and I will be very cross if that happens to you._

She meant it as a joke, but Thor felt his heart break at the words she spelled out. He stood up and cupped her face, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Loki... this is not one of your stories. You are human now. You understand, do you not?" 

She smiled a child's smile and Thor felt his heart break all over again.

* * *

Loki will not cry. She threw her belongings into a trunk with as much force as... as a twelve year old human girl. She wanted to scream. She even opened her mouth, forced the air from her lungs, but nothing came out. Loki missed her voice with a sharp, painful ache. She just has to keep reminding herself that the price was worth it. Her evil self is gone. She won. 

A pyrrhic victory is still a victory. 

"Loki, have you finished packing?" Thor's voice called through the walls. 

She threw a book and felt a great sense of satisfaction at the _thud_ it made when it collided with the stone. 

Loki knew she could not put it off any longer. The time of her exile had come. Thor huffed a sound that could be a laugh or a sigh, she wasn't sure which, but his fingers were feather soft as they ran through her hair like she was a creature made of spun glass that would shatter at a touch. "You are not being banished," Thor said, as though he could read her mind. "You like Broxton, and I will visit you often. If you wish it, we will return to Asgardia whenever there is a moment to spare." 

_But I am not to travel back here on my own,_ she signed as sullenly as possible. It would be much easier to unleash the full force of her displeasure if she still had a voice. 

"Loki, you are... You will be angry at me for saying this, but you are so very fragile now. I feared enough for your safety here where there are those who wish to sate their vengeance for your former self, but I had always assured myself that your own abilities would keep you from harm, and the oaths of my friends to protect you when you cannot protect yourself. Forgive me, but I cannot take comfort in that any longer. If you wish to be human then you must live among the humans as one of them." 

Loki did not accept his explanation, but she allowed him to keep petting her if he wished. 

Her brother led her to where the All-Mother was waiting. 

Idunn and Gaea pulled back in shock at her appearance when she emerged from her brother's shadow to stand before them, but Freyja only stared down at her. Loki could not read her expression. Was she disappointed? Angry? Dare she even hope proud of what she had sacrificed to guarantee her future? 

"It is as you said, Thor. I had hoped-- well, what is done is done. Step outside, I wish to speak with Loki alone." 

Thor hesitated. "Is there nothing to be done about it? Could she not be reborn?" 

Loki threw him a sour look. She would not let anyone – not Thor, not the All-Mother – throw away everything that she had done. But Freyja shook her head. "This is no curse. The magic was done willingly and is binding. Go, now. There is much I must say to Loki." 

Thor nodded and with one last look left Loki to her fate. 

"What have you done?" 

Loki scowled up at them. Why couldn't they see what she was trying to do? It was one of her better plans, if she did say so herself. No one died this time, at least. Except for old Loki, but he was only an evil echo so he didn't count anyway. _I stopped myself from becoming bad!_ She protested. _I saved Asgardia from myself!_

"You have allowed your fear to rule you and have now chosen a slow suicide! A coward's fate!" 

Loki bit her lip and stared down at her feet. She would not cry. She won't. It is just like all the other times she has been berated when she only wanted to help. It is all a part of the story: she is the Persecuted Heroine. A happy end is guaranteed, but only if she survives the beginning of the story. 

She felt Freyja's hand on her head, as soft as Thor's touch had been. 

"Be good, Loki, and go in peace."

* * *

Loki was halfway to her new home when a shiver of paranoia slipped up her spine. She narrowed her eyes at the tree-lined street, the heavy, halting gait of her brother as he tried to match his pace with hers, and the pretty, colorful houses that surrounded them. Her older self had warned her that the story was not over and that she would have to play by the rules. She shoved more M&Ms into her mouth as she stared all around her, feeling stupid for not having recognized the signs before now. 

_Once upon a time..._

_Once upon a time, two siblings – a brother and a sister – were taken from their home by their wicked stepmother and left in the forest. They wandered for days, dropping bread crumbs so that they might be able to find their way back, when they stumbled upon a cottage made of candy. The children were delighted, but unbeknownst to them a witch lived inside the cottage..._

"Ah, we are here, Loki! --Loki, what are you doing? Stop that," Thor admonished as he shifted her trunk on his shoulder. "I did not buy you that Midgardian confection after you begged me to just to see you willfully throw it away." 

Loki considered her trail of M&Ms and figured it wouldn't be much use anyway. She already knew the way back to Asgardia. Loki tipped the bag against her lips, letting the rest of the M&Ms fall into her mouth, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk. It was at that moment that the door opened, revealing the witch. 

Jane Foster.


	3. Aarne-Thompson 310

**The Maiden in the Tower**

Jane can't do anything but stare at the kid. He-- _She_ , Thor told her that Loki was a girl now, looked almost unchanged, standing there as she did in her tunic and crown in Jane's living room. Her eyes were not so vibrantly green and she had lost that... that indescribable quality that always separated Asgardians from mere mortals. But it was Loki. Undeniably Loki. This was going to turn out badly. Like a car accident in slow motion. Loki was a creature that was forever changing, it seemed like; snakes, pigeons, men, women, his body was almost constantly in-flux. Little Loki appeared happy with her decision at the moment, but Jane didn't see it lasting. 

She still hoped it would, for Loki's sake and the rest of the world's. Jane would pray to a god she didn't believe in if it meant Loki could remain content with her small, mortal world. _No more tricks, no more schemes..._

Jane summoned a smile for the two of them. "I'm not exactly sure what to do next. Do you want to see your room?" 

Loki's hands flew in front of her, moving rapidly from one sign to the next. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know sign language," Jane said helplessly, watching as Loki's hands stuttered and faltered. "I know how to spell the alphabet, but that's it." 

Loki looked to her and then to Thor, confusion and horror intermingling on her face. Thor sighed. "The fault lays with me. It did not occur to me that Loki would no longer have the All-Tongue." 

"But you can still understand me, can't you, Loki?" Jane asked. Loki's eyes were far away, but she nodded slowly. 

"I suspect she holds some remnant of the All-Tongue; she knows the languages, but had she still a voice she would need to switch between the ones she wanted to speak like any mortal, instead of being understood by all." 

Loki looked down at her boots, lost in thought and chewing on her lip. Silent. That was perhaps the strangest thing to Jane: a Loki without a voice. When Thor had told her what Loki had become, Jane thought she understood it. Loki wanted to be good, so she removed all temptations. No magic, and no longer a god. But her voice? She couldn't imagine a Loki ever willingly giving that up. Something terrible must have happened. 

Jane forced the smile back on her face. "Come on, let's go see your room and then we can all go out for dinner." 

Loki and Thor followed her up the stairs. "This was the guest room," Jane said as she opened the door to let Loki peek inside. "You can change it however you want. I'm across the hall and next door is Jimmy's room. I get him one weekend every month." Thor set the trunk on the floor while Loki surveyed the room, arms crossed and with an air of grieved acceptance. Finally, she gave Jane the thumbs up. "Oh. I'm so glad it meets with your approval, Your Highness." 

They found a notebook and a pen for Loki to use and the three of them drove to Chico & Chang's Chinese-Mexican Restaurant, because it was the only place in Broxton that still offered an all-you-can-eat buffet. Thor was well into his fifth helping when he asked Jane, "I wanted to know what course of action you thought would be best in regards to Loki's education. She will need to know how everything a human child her age would know." 

"I think the internet is doing a fine job when it comes to that," Jane answered, shooting Loki an amused look as the girl continued to tap away at her phone, ignoring everything that the adults said. "Anything else I can teach her. There are plenty of homeschool programs I can sign us up for--" 

At the mention of homeschool, Loki's head shot up. She waved her hands, nearly knocking her drink over, in her attempt to persuade Jane against the idea. 

Jane stared at her in bafflement. "You _want_ to go to school?" 

Loki nodded. 

"But human education is so far behind your own. You'll be bored out of your mind." 

Loki reached for her pen and scribbled across her notepad: 'I don't care.' 

"Loki, all you have experienced is the world of private tutors and independent study," Thor pointed out. "Midgardian schools require strict obedience and you will be just one face among hundreds." 

Loki tore the page from her pad and scratched her pen across a new, fresh page. 'I know what schools are like. I have seen most of the works of the skald John Hughes.' 

"I think you'll find that the real thing is quite different from what was shown in _The Breakfast Club_ ," Jane said dryly. "But if this is what you want..." 

'It is!' 

"Alright. I'll start looking at schools tomorrow."

* * *

The walk from the car to Jane's door was achingly short. Loki could feel Thor – and Asgardia – slipping farther and farther away with each step. Jane slipped inside, leaving the door cracked for Loki when she was ready, giving the two siblings a moment alone. Thor reached out and placed one heavy hand on her shoulder. "You have always been secretive," he said. "I do not know if you _cannot_ tell me what happened to you, or if you simply _will not_ , but I do not believe this is something you truly want. Whatever forces drove you to this, know that I will seek them out and I will not stop until you are restored." 

_You say you do not believe this is what I want, but I think the truth is it is_ **you** _who does not want this_ , Loki signed. 

Thor flinched as though Loki had landed a terrible blow. The thought that this weak, human body could hurt him made her want to laugh. Then he was reaching out with his other hand, pulling her into his chest and hugging her like she was his lifeline. "Perhaps you are right," he whispered into her hair. "I saw you die once, and I have no desire to witness it a second time. I need you at my side. I had so many hopes for you. Will you let me help you?" 

Loki couldn't answer. Her fingers refused to uncurl from the twisted fabric of Thor's cape, so she buried her head against her chest and held on for as long as she could. 

It didn't last. Nothing ever lasted. Eventually, Thor pulled himself away and lifted Mjolnir towards the sky, his expression as hard and heavy as his hands. Loki turned and ran inside the house, racing up the stairs to her room where she threw herself on the bed. At least with her voice gone, no one could hear her cry. 

Jane left her alone that evening. Maybe she wanted to give Loki some space, or maybe she just didn't know what to say to a crying pre-teen version of a former villain. Even if Jane felt uncomfortable with her presence, she did a fantastic job of hiding it. She had given Loki a room far nicer than the one she had had in Asgardia. It had a real bed and everything! Loki snuggled against the pillow, letting the soft fabric rub against her tear-stained cheeks as she listened to Jane's footsteps against the floorboards. 

It was nearly eleven o'clock. She had listened as Jane walked around downstairs, setting the alarm for the night. Then upstairs to brush her teeth. Now she was in her bedroom. The flicking of a light switch. The creak of her bed. Loki waited another thirty minutes, but when there were no more sounds, she slipped from her bed and padded over to the window. The drop didn't look too bad. The top trimwork around the downstairs window jutted far enough away from the wall to give her ample room to stand on. Without much thought, Loki threw open the window and stuck one foot out. She pulled the other one over and turned carefully so that her stomach scraped across the wall as she slid down on top of the window. Now for the jump. If she let herself dangle from the trim, it would only be a three foot fall at the most. She just needed to make sure she didn't break the glass while doing it. Wouldn't that be excellent way to gain Jane's trust: break her window on the first night. Loki huffed, which was the closest thing to a laugh she could make these days, and leaned down to brace her hand on the trim. 

_Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair._

She fell. 

Loki landed feet first and felt a rush of air escape her mouth in what would have been a scream as she felt pain shoot from her left ankle all the way to her knee. She stumbled, collapsed, and reached around to grasp her injured foot. Slowly, she rotated it and felt assured that nothing was broken, though the flesh was already starting to swell. Twisted, then. Loki shook her head as a steady stream of insults wove through her brain. Idiot. She knew well enough how fragile this body was. She needed to be more careful. 

Gritting her teeth, Loki pulled herself up, exiting Jane's small backyard through the gate. It took her nearly an hour to reach Leah's cave. She found her still awake, waiting for her arrival. Loki smiled as she limped inside, waving at her as though nothing was wrong. 

"Hela suspects there is more to this bargain than you told her," Leah said in lieu of a greeting. 

_Of course she is suspicious. I am Loki._

"Still," Leah continued, eyeing the other girl's new form. "I do not recall _this_ being part of the deal." 

_No, this was Ikol's doing. One last final send-off._ Loki sat down next to her, releasing a sigh as she eased off of her foot. _Thor has banished me to Broxton. I would put a lizard in his bed for this, if it did not suit my plans._

"Oh, yes, your 'True Love'," Leah sneered. "That was an incredibly stupid thing to insist on. It's not even real." 

_It is! It's in all the stories!_

"But you're not a story any longer, not like me. You're human now." 

_It is real_ , Loki insisted. Then she said, _I'm going to school._

Leah wrinkled her nose. "What." 

_Lots of Midgardian romances begin with the characters meeting at school! You should come, it'll be fun!_

"I think you know it will be horrible and you want me to be just as miserable as you." 

_Yes! That's what will make it fun! We can do all the things that Midgardian girls do, like have slumber parties._

"What do you do at a slumber party?" 

_I don't really know. Mostly talk about which boys you like, I think._

Leah's mouth twisted into a scowl. "I've listened to you talk enough about love and boys already. I do not see why your True Love has to be a boy anyway." 

_Because my bargain with Hela depends upon the rules that govern fairy tales. Magic must play by the rules, which means my True Love must be a chivalrous knight._

"You never bothered with the rules before," Leah muttered. "I am tired. Go home. I want to sleep." 

_No slumber party?_

"Go away, Loki." 

Leah turned her back to her. Loki stood up, ignoring the pain in her ankle as she limped along the cave wall, one hand braced against the stone. Fine. No slumber parties. The walk back to Jane's seemed longer and more painful than the trip to Leah's. By the time she made it back, it was nearing 3 in the morning and her ankle had swollen to the size of a grapefruit. There was no way she would be able to climb up to her second-story window. 

Loki pulled out a little plastic card that marked her a patron of Broxton's public library and neatly slid it between the back door and the lock. After a few minutes of wiggling, she managed to break inside, letting the door swing open. 

The alarm sounded. 

Loki raced through the kitchen to the plastic box mounted on the wall and began frantically pushing at the buttons, trying desperately to quiet it. Oh, if only she had her own magic hammer, that would definitely shut it up. Loki's frantic flailing was interrupted when Jane, in a long robe and fuzzy slippers, pushed her out of the way to enter the code. All at once, the blaring stopped. 

Jane was looking down at her with an expression that was both unsurprised and disappointed. Loki smiled and hoped she looked _very_ cute. 

"Have a seat. Get off that foot. I'll get some ice." 

Loki did as she was told, lifting her ankle for Jane's inspection when commanded. Jane felt along the muscle, twisting and pulling to make sure Loki's original assessment was correct. "It's a bad twist," she said as she began to wrap it. "But it'll be fine in a week. Here, take these ibuprofen." 

Jane handed her the tablets and a glass of water, then moved across the kitchen far away from Loki. Loki squirmed as Jane stared at her, arms crossed, as silent as Loki herself was. Finally, she spoke, "I know you're used to a certain amount of freedom. I don't imagine there were many people you had to answer to in Asgardia. Or who cared enough to wonder where you were and if you were hurt. It... It wouldn't be fair to you to expect you to behave as a normal human twelve-year-old would. Beyond the movies and tv shows you've seen, you have no real idea what that means. But _you do know_ that what you did tonight was wrong. You wouldn't have felt the need to sneak around if you didn't. You cannot go off on your own in the middle of the night any longer, Loki. Asgard had its share of dangers, and so does this world." 

Loki frowned, holding up her hands to mimic writing until Jane fetched her a pad and pen. 'I can defend myself against any would-be Midgardian criminal.' 

"No, Loki. You can't." Jane shook her head. "I'm not Mother Gothel and I'm not going to keep you locked in your room. But look at yourself. Look at your ankle. If some creep tried to snatch you off the street, do you _really_ think you would be able to stop him? You can't even run like this. I'm a fucking doctor, Loki! You wouldn't be the first child I had to treat who been had raped and beaten!" Jane's voice rose until it was hoarse with emotion. She shut her mouth, her teeth clinking with the force of it, and slowly breathed through her nose. "You're human," she began again, slowly and more softly this time. "You have _got_ to understand what that means or the next time your brother sees you he'll be identifying your body at the local morgue." 

Loki reared back like she had been slapped. Her body started to tremble. She didn't know why. She wasn't in any danger. Jane shook her head, rubbing at her eyes. "Go to bed. We'll talk more about this tomorrow."


	4. Aarne-Thompson 500

**The Name of the Helper**

Loki stomped down the stairs. Her preferred method of expressing displeasure would have been a long string of insults, but since that was now out of the question, she was reduced to this like a belligerent toddler. She came into the kitchen wearing knee-high socks, a plaid skirt, and a sweater that proudly proclaimed her to be a student at St. Dreux's Parochial School for Girls. This... this was not what she had in mind. She only had until the age of 21 to find her True Love. Her whole plan had hinged on meeting as many boys as possible in hopes of finding him.

Jane was waiting for her, already dressed in scrubs and holding a bowl of oatmeal for her. "Don't make that face," Jane said as she set the bowl on the table. Loki slid into her chair and picked up her spoon, watching the oatmeal gloop back into the bowl. No bacon. What a terrible day this was starting out to be. "St. Dreux's has the best curriculum in the state, plenty of extracurricular activities to keep you occupied and out of trouble, and, most importantly," Jane smiled at her. "A 12-foot high fence surrounding the property."

Loki rearranged her face into something that looked more shy and sweet and contrite. She pulled out her notebook and started to write, 'I do not wish to be the cause of undue hardship and private school is so expensive-'

She had barely finished writing the last word when Jane waved her hand. "Don't worry about it. Thor pays me child support and... that is the _weirdest_ sentence..."

The simpering expression quickly disappeared back into a scowl, but Jane was no longer looking at her, her eyes too busy scanning the morning paper. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast, or we'll be late."

Loki barely had time to shovel the rest of her oatmeal into her mouth and shove her notebook back into her bookbag before Jane was bundling her into the car. The school was not far from Leah's cave and Loki peered at the brick building masquerading as something old and the sprawling, carefully trimmed grounds. There were several buildings clustered together and Jane took them straight to the largest and most impressive looking one, which was still woefully inadequate to any place of learning on Asgard. She only perked up when she saw the outline of a stable in the distance.

Loki climbed out of the car after Jane and met with a nervous-looking man who was clutching a folder to his chest . "Hello! I'm Paul Fong, I'm the principal here at St. Dreux's."

He held out his hand for Jane and then, after some hesitation, offered it to Loki who took it with mounting amusement. "It's nice to meet you. I do have some questions--"

"Of course, of course--"

"--About Loki's... special circumstances."

"Yes, about that," the man rocked on to his heels. "I had the honor to meet Thor in person and he explained the situation to me, and, uh, well with a hero like that..."

Loki jerked her head up at the sound of her brother's name. Thor had been _here_? He had taken the time to meet with the school principal? _Why couldn't he have taken that kind of interest before I became human?_ Loki thought, not without bitterness.

The man continued on. "The school thought it might be best if Loki used a different name when on campus. We've taken the liberty of creating a profile for you." The man handed her the folder and Loki flipped through it to see a name blazoned across the top of faked school records and report cards-- Lucy Foster. So, she had lost her immortality, her magic, her voice, her home, her gender, and now she was to lose her name. Would there be anything left of her by the time this trick was finished?

"There is one other thing," Mr. Fong said. "While St. Dreux's has always prided itself on being inclusive and welcoming to all students, this _is_ still a religious institution and--"

Jane sighed. "I promise that Loki will not lead the students in any sort of pagan Norse rites." She nudged the girl. "Isn't that right?"

Loki smiled sweetly at Mr. Fong.

"Excellent! Excellent! If you'll come this way, I can show you around the campus. Tell me, Lo-Lucy, will you be attending Mass with us?"

* * *

Loki squatted next to the toilet in the last stall in the girl's bathroom, black sharpie in hand as she scrawled protective sigils on the cubicle door. Maybe she had lost whatever little piece of magic her old body had managed to cling to, but she still had this. There was power in writing, as she well knew. She was supposed to be in Earth Science, but she had already suffered through Pre-Algebra and wasn't that punishment enough? _Rocks are for jocks,_ Loki sang in her own head. Besides, she had a limited window of opportunity to play up the "dumb new student who doesn't know where her next class is located", she might as well take full advantage of it. Nobody would suspect her of purposefully skipping her second class on her first day.

High-pitched laughter broke her from her thoughts.

Loki left the stall and wandered to the high window. She grabbed a trashcan, flipped it over, and stood on top of it so she could peer out. Across the green lawn, she saw the soccer field and a group of girls close to her own age standing around and talking. One of them was tall with burnished copper-colored hair and a swath of freckles dotting every inch of her skin. She wore an old pair of cleats and the sleeves of her shirt were rolled up. She looked like the sort of girl that would do very well on Asgardia, the kind of girl that everyone would admire and love. Like Sif. A chivalrous Knight. Loki stared at her as Leah's earlier words churned in her head. Maybe she was right. Maybe her True Love really _didn't_ need to be a boy and Ikol's forced genderswap was just a bit of trickery. Make an already unfamiliar body even stranger. A handicap to make the game harder for her.

"It won't work."

Ice flooded Loki's entire being at the sound of Ikol's voice.

She turned slowly and saw that the old Loki had replaced her reflection in the mirror. "I killed you," she said, hardly noticing that her voice had returned. "I _ate_ you."

"You can't kill me anymore than you can kill yourself. Not that you haven't tried." His eyes raked over her frail, human body. "I am a part of you now. You think I couldn't have taken your body then? I have allowed you to remain in control."

Loki hopped down from the trashcan to face her past self head on. "And why did you? Does this new body frighten you?" Loki smirked at him. "Do you want to know what I think? I think you know you would never be able to find True Love. Not in nine years, not in a hundred years. I heard about Sigyn, and how you had to trick her into marrying you. You would have doomed yourself if you had taken control."

The old Loki smiled back. "Perhaps you're right, but you do not seem to be doing half as well as you think. The only friend you have is imaginary, one that you had to create."

That wiped the smile from Loki's face.

"Believe it or not, I came here to help. You still want to live, otherwise you would not be so concerned about finding your True Love. Why not make a deal, one where we both get to live?"

"And you expect me to believe that you will keep your word?"

"No, but you do not need to. My survival depends on yours."

Loki folded her arms. "Maybe I would rather see you dead."

"You would not have gone through all of this if you wanted that. Let me give you some advice then: I remade you into a girl because that is what a fairy tale requires. And a fairy tale requires you to fall in love with a prince, not a princess."

"Why? Leah is right. We have circumvented such rules before, least of all the backwards ideas Midgardians have about gender."

Old Loki laughed "If you think it will work, then court that girl. We will see who is right in the end, though by that time I doubt it will matter."

Loki swallowed thickly and looked down at her feet. Could she really afford to break the rules? She didn't want to die. Even as weak as she was now, she wanted to keep living.

By the time she looked back up, her past self was gone and the person staring back at her from the mirror was as much a stranger as the man whose life she didn't remember living.

* * *

The flood of students pushed Loki through the corridors, the day finally over. The thought of having to come back and do the same thing over and over for years -- Years! -- was almost enough to send her begging to Jane to homeschool her like she had originally planned.

Loki walked past an open classroom and came to a stop when she saw the red-haired girl from before chatting with her friends. A nun shooed them away, waving her hands as she spoke, “Practice is about to begin! Let's start with ‘Gloria in Excelsis.’”

Loki crept inside, hovering in the background while the girls clamored to get into place. The nun turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Loki standing there. “Yes? Can I help you?”

The former god pulled out her notebook and wrote, ‘Is this a club? Can I join?’

The nun looked between Loki and the notebook and cleared her voice. “This. Is. The. School. Choir. CHOIR.”

Loki rolled her eyes. ‘Not deaf!!’ She wrote, and for emphasis, added a couple more exclamation points. ‘Mute. I want to join.’

The nun looked baffled. “But my dear, if you can't speak… You do know what a choir is, don't you?”

Loki smiled. New page. ‘Are you saying I can't join because of my disability?’

It was almost funny how the nun seemed to almost trip over herself to assure her that St. Dreux's was a very inclusive school and the school choir was open for everybody, no matter their circumstances. 

Loki tore into her dinner that night while Jane looked at her with something like part amusement, part exasperation. “I can't believe you joined the school _choir_. I don't even want to know how you managed that.”


	5. Aarne-Thompson 713

**The Mother Who Did Not Bear Me But Nourished Me**

"I thought we agreed next weekend was my weekend."

Jane could hear Keith sigh on the other end of the line. _'He's a teenager, Jane. He has school, sports, friends. Jimmy wants to stay here. I can't make him go.'_

"I know, I know." Jane rubbed at her eyes, wicking away the tears before they had a chance to gather. "Can you put him on? It's been so long since we've talked." 

There was a long and terrible pause. _'He's out with friends._

"That's bullshit. Just tell me, is it Jimmy who doesn't want to talk to me, or is it _you_?" 

_'What, are you surprised that your son is angry that you left us to play house with Thor? I heard you even got a new kid to replace the old one--"_

Jane threw her phone on her bed and marched across the hall to her bathroom. She scrubbed her face with cold water. She would not cry. She would not let Loki see her so vulnerable. Jane didn't care that she was a child now, and human, her mind revolted at the thought of allowing someone like _Loki_ see even a hint of weakness. She buried her face in a towel, letting it soak up the dew left on her skin, before giving a peek at her reflection in the mirror. Passable. 

She went downstairs, her eyes immediately falling on the former god. Part of her wanted to laugh. Loki, the villain, who had tried to kill her on multiple occasions, was sprawled across her couch, her lips green from the ice pop in her mouth, watching anime. The other half – the half that was angry and hurt – boiled over at the carefully neutral expression on Loki's face. The one that said she had overheard everything that Jane had said on the phone and was trying not to let it show. 

"What did I say about shoes on the couch? And how many ice pops have you had?" Jane snapped as she entered the living room. Loki held up five sticky fingers as she began to toe her shoes off, her eyes never straying from the sword-swinging, pink-haired schoolgirl on the tv. 

"You're not to have any more tonight. And if I catch you playing on your phone at three o'clock in the morning again I'm taking it away." And she could actually do it too. Twelve-your-old, human Loki couldn't cast so much as a glamour, and was nothing but a collection of long, skinny limbs. 

Loki finally sat up at that and stretched out her hands as if to say, _What?!_ or possibly, _Are you kidding me?!_. She started shaking her head, her hands waving in the air, but Jane just rolled her eyes. "Don't lie to me, Loki. I saw the light under your door last night." 

The girl scowled darkly up at her and folded her arms, letting out a huff as she allowed herself to fall back onto the couch. Jane walked past the couch and into the kitchen to start dinner. Let the kid pout. 

The newspaper was lying on the table next to the scissors where she had left it when she had gotten the call from Keith. There was Loki in black and white, standing with the St. Dreux's Girls' Choir, her hands frozen mid-sign. It was a small article, just a local human-interest story, but it heaped Loki and the school with praise at their inclusion of an ASL interpreter. Jane knew Thor would love to read it, wherever he was at the moment, and had wanted to save it for his next visit. And, honestly, she had kind of wanted to save it for herself too. There was always that little niggling doubt in the back of her mind, warning her that this was all just a trick of Loki's, that taking the girl in would end up being a big mistake. But then she would see this picture, at the wide, open smile on Loki's face. Jane had never seen Loki smile like that. She had never known she was capable of it. 

The doorbell shattered her thoughts, and Jane abandoned all plans of future scrapbooking to hurry towards the door. Loki had not moved from her position on the couch and Jane rolled her eyes again as she moved past her toward the door. She opened it to reveal a very strange-looking girl, whom Jane immediately recognized as Asgardian. "I am looking for Loki," she said. 

Loki was tripping over herself to get to the door, one shoe half-on and the other shoved under one arm. Her notebook was already in hand, the top of her pen clutched between her lips, as she scrawled in one long run-on sentence. 'This is Leah she's a friend we are going to the arcade.' 

Loki had yet to learn how to ask for permission, but Jane ushered the girl out the door anyway and hustled the two of them toward the car, Loki hopping on one foot as she struggled to get her other shoe on. Jane had no idea that Loki even had friends. Maybe if the old Loki had had more of them he would have never turned out the way he did. "Okay, come on, I'll drop you off." 

Leah stiffened as Jane held open the back door for her. "That won't be necessary--" 

"I'm not going to let you two walk there. It's halfway across town." 

Leah frowned and followed Loki inside, glancing suspiciously at Jane all the while. She didn't mind. Suspicion was probably a good instinct to have if she wanted to be friends with Loki.

* * *

"Shouldn't we be attempting to cross the finish line?" Leah asked, despite ramming her car into Loki's with no small amount of glee. 

Loki blew a raspberry at her and jerked her wheel, pushing Leah's car into another and watching them both flip. Winning was boring. Chaos much more fun. 

She frowned when Leah didn't immediately chase after her. Loki glanced at her and saw that she was leaning her seat, her gaze fixed on something beyond the sea of arcade games. "That man over there has been watching us," Leah said. "And he is not human." 

Loki peeked around the console and saw a man in a plain, black business suit standing near the door, a cellphone against his ear. Loki had lost her instinct for the supernatural, but even she could see that Leah was right. The man was beautiful in a way that humans could only achieve when all flaws had been airbrushed away and whatever was left was splashed across the cover of a glossy magazine. Her first thought was that the man was Asgardian, before immediately dismissing it. He was far too comfortable playacting the Midgardian, unlike her own people. "Yeah, it's him," the man said, his eyes flitting to where Loki sat for only a second. "Don't worry, I'll get it." 

_Let’s get some ice cream,_ Loki signed and the two of them slid out of their seats. They walked past the man, careful not to look at him and stepped outside. They weren't surprised when they heard the door open a second time moments later, the soft sounds of footsteps trailing behind them, the click of a phone as it snapped a picture. Loki caught the slow, twisting smile blooming across Leah's face. Loki might not pose much of a threat in this body, but Leah could pack a punch. Loki gave a start when she felt Leah slip her hand into hers and tug her towards the nearly empty ice cream parlor. They hurried past the counter and down the hall, slipping inside the girls' restroom. The door chimed and there was the man's footsteps again, growing louder as they echoed off of the tile. Leah stood ready by the door, her hand glowing a faint and sickly green. 

The footsteps finally stopped and the door opened only a crack before it swung shut again followed by a very angry voice screaming, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" 

Loki tore open the door to see Jane Foster swinging a golf club at the man's head. He ducked and brought his hands up to protect himself from the rain of blows. "You've got the wrong idea! I haven't done anything wrong!" 

"I SAW YOU TAKING PICTURES OF THEM! YOU FOLLOWED THEM HERE! WHAT ELSE COULD YOU BE DOING IN THE WOMEN'S RESTROOM?!" Jane took another swipe at him, but the man disappeared with a loud _crack_. Jane stumbled, unable to stop the force of her swing as the head of the club cracked against the brick wall. She twisted around, trying to find him again, but he was gone. Magic. 

Jane turned on Loki. "Who was that?!" She demanded. 

Loki could only shrug helplessly, shrinking in the face of her rage. "We have never seen him before," Leah supplied. "He was in the arcade, watching us. We decided it would be safer here." 

"Why didn't either of you text me? You knew I was just across the street!" 

Loki scrambled for her notebook, pulling it out to write, 'We knew he was not human. We did not want you hurt. Leah could have taken care of him.' Loki eyed the broken club and added, 'I did not think you capable of scaring him off. Where did you get that?' 

Jane took a deep, calming breath, and then another for good measure. "It belongs to my ex-husband. He left his set in the trunk of my car. I've been meaning to send them back. When I saw that creep taking pictures of you two I ran and got this." 

'Thor would very impressed.' 

Jane gave Loki a wry smile. "Where do you think I learned to swing like that? Come on, I think your brother is going to want to hear about this little adventure."


End file.
